Raja Petra Kamarudin
I wrote ‘Sanggang - the BA’s wake-up call’ (READ HERE) 13 years ago back in April 2000. In March 2004, I wrote ‘Crowds don’t translate to votes’ (READ HERE).
Basically, these articles were about the fallacy that if there is a
huge crowd at your function or event then this means these people
support you.
I have been trying to tell the
opposition this for more than a decade and it appears that Prime
Minister Najib Tun Razak has discovered this over the weekend. The huge
crowd at the Chinese New Year gathering cum PSY concert in Penang cannot
be translated to a show of support for Barisan Nasional. The crowd was
there for a free concert, not to support Barisan Nasional.
This
is the nature of Malaysians. If there is a free meal they will be there
in hordes even if they hate you. I personally saw thousands of people
at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Hari Raya open house in 2006 -- many of
them, in fact, non-Malays. And some even brought bags and plastic
containers to tapau the food, the Chinese equivalent of a doggie bag.
It
was actually most embarrassing and I saw that Dr Mahathir pretended he
did not notice this was happening (my wife, Marina, shook her head in
disgust). But how can you not notice your guests emptying the tables and
pouring the food into bags and plastic containers? Were they there
because they loved Dr Mahathir or were they there because they wanted to
plunder the table and bring enough food home for a whole week?
And that is why it
is very difficult to get Malaysians to stop patronising the gaming
outlets or to stop buying fast food, etc. (even though gambling and fast
food are bad for you). They will scream about all sorts of things and
then they will give their business to businesses owned by Barisan
Nasional cronies and financiers. As much as we tell them that by making
these people rich they are also making Barisan Nasional rich these
people refuse to listen.
And this is one
thing that is most puzzling about Malaysians. They say one thing but
they do the opposite of what they say. They scream about corruption and
about why we need change and then they will suap a policeman to
avoid paying a fine for a traffic offence. They will scream about how
bad the government is and why Malaysia needs change and then they will
absorb all the corrupted Barisan Nasional politicians into the
opposition Pakatan Rakyat.
Probably this is
the way Malaysians have been brought up by their parents. For example,
if I hated Najib I would never attend his Chinese New Year open house
even if the food is free and Elton John was going to sing at that open
house. I would vote with my feet. I would boycott the event on point of
principle. I would never show support by attending his open house and
then say that I hate him and am not there because of him.
The
funny thing is, these people who hate Najib and yet attend his Chinese
New Year open house are the same people who accuse others of having no
principles. Don’t you find that hilarious? Apparently they do not
understand what the word ‘principles’ means.
And
we are entrusting the future of the country in the hands of these
people and are hoping that they will make the right choices and do the
right things. I think we need at least 30 years or more before we can
reach the stage where Malaysians can walk the talk and practice what
they preach.
There were some comments posted
today by those who do not like what I write that said I have lost their
respect. Honestly, do you think I am so concerned about the respect of
people who do not respect themselves by attending a Chinese New Year
party of someone they hate?
Do you know
that I happened to be in Canberra, Australia, at the same time that
Najib was in town and I was invited to the official lunch in honour of
Malaysia’s Prime Minister? I politely declined the invitation and
explained to Senator Nick Xenophon that if I attended that lunch it
would mean I support Najib since the lunch was in his honour. You should
have seen the smiles on the faces of the SABM Australia lads who agreed
that by attending the lunch this would mean I am ‘endorsing’ Najib.
(I
met the Senator to ask him to support Bersih, which he did. He actually
went to Kuala Lumpur during the Bersih march to show support and the
Malaysian government was pissed big-time).
But
then that is me and I look at things differently compared to most
Malaysians who can hate you and then come to your party. If everyone
thought like me then there would have been a Chinese New Year party with
no crowd and Najib would really have been embarrassed. Now Umno can
always say that that video recording (of the crowd screaming ‘no!’) was
doctored like the ones of Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali (don’t we always
scream that videos are doctored?).